Filtermist has recently appointed two new distributors in Poland to handle a marked increase in demand for its oil mist collection units from the country’s rapidly expanding manufacturing sector.
Filtermist now works with three main Polish distributors, JTT Technologies and Marcosta who are both sector specific and based in the South of Poland, as well as Imponar which is located in Radomsko in the middle of the country.
Filtermist’s Sales Manager, Stuart Plimmer, says, “We have exported to Poland for more than 15 years, and have witnessed a significant increase in demand for our products in recent years, which is particularly notable since the general downturn elsewhere in Europe following the global crash of 2008. We are currently actively targeting a number of markets where we have identified additional potential for growth; Poland is an obvious choice because of the sheer level of investment in infrastructure and support available to manufacturing companies.”
According to Forbes magazine, Poland is the ‘only European Union economy to avoid recession since the global financial crisis hit in 2008’ – a statistic reiterated by data released last month by HSBC, following a report produced by Markit based on responses to a questionnaire which was sent to purchasing executives in over 200 manufacturing companies. The report confirmed that Poland’s manufacturing output grew for the fourth consecutive month in a row in October and also stated that businesses expanded their workforces for the third month in a row to cope with the increased demand for Polish manufactured goods.
Having worked with UKTI on a number of previous projects, Filtermist commissioned an OMIS report (Overseas Market Introduction Service) to establish the level of opportunities on offer in Poland and identify potential sales partners in the region.
Richard Smith, one of UKTI’s Shropshire advisors, takes up the story, “We have previously identified suitable sales partners for Filtermist in a number of overseas territories including Vietnam, Australia and more recently, in Russia. UKTI understands the importance of finding sales partners which are the ‘right fit’ for a business – our local teams around the world offer ‘on the ground’ knowledge which can be invaluable in helping UK companies form the right partnerships for their business.”
He continues, “As with any exercise of this nature, the more information that we have to work with the better, as it generally leads to a far more targeted outcome.”
Filtermist's global distributors play a vital role in reaching potential customers, as Stuart explains, “Over 90% of our products are destined for export markets so it is hugely important that we form partnerships with the best distributors possible in order to grow our business. We offer significant support to our distributors to make sure they have access to a wide range of resources to support their sales efforts and in return we have seen our export sales increase by more than 25% since 2010.”